Michael Harris II approached one of the biggest plate appearances of his season with a simple mindset — he wanted to do something, anything, that would score the runners on second and third base.
Harris, after swinging at a curveball and taking another one, accomplished his goal — and then some Friday night — as he hit a game-tying, three-run home run in the Braves’ 12-4 victory over the Rockies.
Twelve runs marked a season-high for the Braves, who appear to be rounding a corner after a dreadful stretch of games.
“I feel like it was just a little weird stretch,” Harris said of the Braves’ recent slide of 14 losses in 17 games. “We know what kind of team we are. The way we were tonight is kind of who we should be, and we didn’t have that over that stretch.”
Part of the Braves’ recent success — that includes winning three of their past four games — can be attributed to the performances of Ronald Acuña Jr., Marcell Ozuna, Matt Olson and a corps of starting pitchers.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
But Harris also deserves credit.
He broke a string of 42 games with a home run June 7 with a solo shot against the Giants and has since hit a home run in consecutive games for the first time this season.
Harris said he is focusing on keeping his weight back in his swing to produce more line drives and fly balls. His exit velocity, barrel percentage and hard-hit percentage are all down from his previous two seasons, but the effort appears to be swinging the pendulum back to what the Braves are accustomed to seeing from their young star.
A prime example: Harris went 2-for-4 against the Rockies with a home run, hard-hit single to center field and a fly ball to left field.
“(Hitting coach Tim Hyers) has talked to him about that,” manager Brian Snitker said of Harris’ approach. “None bigger than tonight, that’s for sure. They’re working all the time at this. We’ve been struggling to put these innings together and games, and they’re all aware of it and working at it. So hopefully this is — now we’ve had three out of four games have been pretty good — we’ve been adding on runs and hitting with guys on, so hopefully, that’s a sign of things to come.”
The Braves’ series-opening victory was a step in the right direction for a team looking to get back into the playoff race.
The offense showed positive signs, such as scoring 11 runs across the final three innings for just the seventh time in the last 25 years.
The bullpen also displayed a strong performance, with a season-best 5⅔ scoreless innings.
But if the Braves want to achieve consistency, they need their lineup to produce from top to bottom. Harris is a big piece of that, and both he and his teammates know it.
“I tell him all the time, ‘You’re the best center fielder in the league,’” Ozuna said. “You don’t have to worry about anything. Just come every day, have fun in the game and then play the game hard. And then do whatever you want.”
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